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FAQ’s

I get a lot of questions from people about life here, so I thought it would be a good time to address some of the Frequently Asked Questions…

What do you eat?
Refer to “Bon Appetit”. But we pretty much eat everything we would eat back home. There are lots of things in English writing at the stores and I usually hit up an import store once a week for specialty items (ie Nutella for the man).

Does it smell funny?
Yes, it does. Usually no more than any other big city. The one thing that is a little unusual is all of the building going on around our house. I couldn’t even count the number of skyscrapers going up outside our window. Sometimes, we get a nice chemical smell from that.

Is the government reading my emails?
Who knows. Probably. When I registered at the police station, they asked for my email address, so I wouldn’t doubt it.

Is the internet and outside news censored?
Not that I notice. I’m able to access CNN, BBC, MSNBC, etc. without any problem. Sometimes there are China negative articles, so I don’t think the gov’t could possibly catch everything. The biggest difference is that I can not access Facebook regularly and my blog runs really slow.

Do they scan you for a fever when you enter the country?
Yes. I’ve even seen someone taken into a little room in the scanning area. Basically, if you are sick, don’t enter. But, I recently read an article about a woman who was taken into quarantine at the border and, from what she said, it wasn’t a big deal. They just want to make sure you don’t have H1N1.

Do you eat dog or cat?
Not that I’m aware of and I haven’t seen it on the menu here in Guangzhou. I’ve heard than in the outlying areas of the Guangdong province, it’s not that unusual to see it on the menu.

Is everyone really smart?
Ummm…no. Those smart Chinese kids that you used to cheat off of in Algebra class…those are the elite ones.

What do you do all day?
I really don’t want to sit on my butt here. Each day I work out (either yoga or running), study French and Chinese, do household tasks and prepare things for my blog. Believe it or not, I’ve been getting over 100 hits a day. Chances are it’s the Chinese gov’t making sure I don’t say anything bad, but I was seriously overwhelmed by how many readers I have.

Do you have any friends?
Yes. Most of them are Fabien’s co-workers. They are a nice bunch and we’ve had some good times already. Unfortunately, I don’t have an Chinese friends, yet. In day to day life, I have exchanged numbers with a few Chinese girls, but friendship has come of it yet. The best part are their names. I’ve met people named Moon (a guy), Romantic, Rainbow and several Kitties. It’s like there’s a contest to find the stupidest English name possible.

So, I think that’s it but feel free to let me know if there is anything I’ve missed.